Chairman and Board of Trustees
Ian Robertson joined the Board of Trustees in 2007 as non-executive Chairman, having retired at the end of June 2007 from from HBOS plc, where he had held the position of Managing Director of Corporate Banking since 1999. Ian is a graduate of Aberdeen and Strathclyde Universities and is a Fellow and former Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. He has been involved with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers for a number of years, principally in a fundraising capacity.
Andrew Cozens spent ten years as Director of Social Services for Gloucestershire and Leicester from 1996-2005, before joining the Improvement and Development Agency for local government as their Strategic Adviser, Children, Adults and Health Services.
Andrew has had a strong interest in carers' issues since 1986, through his work in the voluntary and statutory sectors. He has worked closely with Carers' Centres in North Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire. From 1997 to 2002, Andrew served as spokesperson on carers’ matters for the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) and in 2003/2004 he was President of the ADSS.
In addition to leading on carers policy issues at the ADSS for a number of years, Andrew also served on the Princess Royal Trust for Carers Policy Development Committee from 1997-2003. He was closely involved in the development of the National Carers Strategy.
Andrew received a CBE in the New Years Honours List 2004 for services to social work.
John Jesky is Treasurer and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. In March 2006 John was appointed Chairman of the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest trusts in the country serving a population of almost one million from hospitals in Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and North Manchester.
Throughout his career, John has been involved in helping to deliver healthcare needs to some of the most deprived areas in the country. Between 1995 and 1999 he was a non-executive director of Salford Community NHS Trust. From April 2002 until March 2006, John was a non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee of the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, the largest individual SHA in the UK. To each of these roles John has been able to bring his business experience gained in working for a number of multi-national food companies over many years. He is also a Board Member of the Royal Northern College of Music.
John has first hand experience of caring, as he was involved in caring for his mother following a period in hospital. Fortunately she is now able to live independently. He is based in the North West and has two adult children.
Until his retirement from legal practice in 2006, Andrew was senior partner of TC Young, solicitors in Glasgow and had been company secretary of the Trust from its earliest days.
"I was involved in the foundation of the Trust in 1990, when we sought to alleviate the pressure that would come onto family members as carers, with the imminent introduction of Care in the Community. All our concerns have been well founded. My subsequent experience, chairing NHS trusts in the Acute, Primary Care, and Mental Health sectors in the West of Scotland have given me a sharper sense of the reliance placed on Carers by the statutory providers.”
“I currently act as Vice Chair of Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board. The Scottish NHS in recent years has evolved differently to England. With the abolition of the trusts the NHS Boards are responsible for all NHS activities, i.e. strategic policy through to detailed implementation and delivery. The Scottish Executive places great emphasis on public health, preventative action, public involvement and working with carers. These priorities are reflected in the local NHS Board's forward planning. I am pleased to be associated with the lead which Glasgow NHS has taken in developing Carers Information Strategies and our early initiative in seconding a key member of our community health team to work within the Princess Royal Trust for Carers."
Andrew is also Vice Chair of Erskine Hospital, a Trustee of Music in Hospitals and a non executive director of the Scottish Building Society. With his wife Sheila, Andrew was an active carer for Sheila's mother who lived with them for the last ten years of her life until 2001.
Dr Edward Wojakovski holds degrees in Law, Accountancy, a Masters in Land Economics and PhD Doctor of Philosophy in Economics and Business Administration.
Throughout his career, Edward has been involved in real estate economy, mainly through the Tonstate Group which holds or manages his interest in all property sectors, with great emphasis on the leisure and hotels sector. Edward has also worked with local authorities and financial institutions.
Edward’s strength has always been his ability to create and secure fair and sound deals for both parties to the deal by managing a strict management control structure coupled with financial acumen.
From a very young age he has had first hand experience of the role of and need for carers within the family setting. He saw both his parents taking care of their parents to the extent of having one residing with them full time. He has also experienced the impact that good care can have by seeing and fully participating in the care and support of a close family member infected with polio during childhood who, through this, fully recovered.
Edward is a keen art collector and enjoys the world of opera, violin and piano music. He is also an advisor for various charitable organisations in the UK and abroad. He is happily married with 3 children.